The Mermaid's Revenge
by DarkDancer07
Summary: Dark alternative ending to Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. After choosing death instead of killing the Prince, the Little Mermaid is initiated into the rites of the Rusakli, a sisterhood of dark undead spirits of the sea. In her new existence as a Rusalka, she is given the chance to seek vengeance on those responsible for her death, but will she take it? Pls R
1. Chapter 1: A New Beginning

**The Mermaid's Revenge**

_Well for the first time in so long, I am back writing on Fanfiction!_

_I do apologise for my long negligence, but I have been really busy trying to sort myself out and this new story marks my return._

_My new story is an alternative ending to The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, in which the Little Mermaid joins a group of dark creatures instead of the Daughters of the Air after she becomes foam on the sea._

_I've always wondered what would've happened if the Prince somehow found out he married the wrong girl and I've always felt that he should've found out. This ending has also been inspired by one of my favourite ballets, Giselle._

_I hope you'll all enjoy it and it's good to be back. :)_

* * *

**Chapter 1: A New Beginning**

A hush came over the ship. Only the helmsman remained on deck as the Little Mermaid or Marina, as the Prince had named her because she came to him from the sea, leaned her white arms on the bulwarks and looked to the east to see the first red hint of daybreak, for she knew that the first flash of the sun would strike her dead. Then she saw her sisters rise up among the waves. They were as pale as she, and there was no sign of their lovely long hair that the breezes used to blow. It had all been cut off.

"We have given our hair to the witch," they said, "so that she would send you help, and save you from death tonight. She gave us a knife. Here it is. See the sharp blade! Before the sun rises, you must strike it into the Prince's heart and when his warm blood bathes your feet, they will grow together and become a fish tail. Then you will be a mermaid again, able to come back to us in the sea and live out your three hundred years before you die and turn into dead sea-foam. Make haste! He or you must die before sunrise. Our old grandmother is so grief-stricken that her white hair is falling fast, just as ours did under the witch's scissors. Kill the Prince and come back to us. Hurry! Hurry! See that red glow in the heavens! In a few minutes, the sun will rise and you must die."

So saying, they gave a strange deep sigh and sank beneath the waves.

Marina parted the purple curtains of the tent and saw the beautiful bride asleep with her head on the Prince's breast. Marina bent down and kissed his shapely forehead. She looked at the sky, fast reddening for the break of day. She looked at the sharp knife and again turned her eyes toward the Prince, who in his sleep murmured the name of his bride. His thoughts were all of her and the knife trembled in Marina's hand. But then she flung it from her, far out over the waves. Where it fell, the waves were red, as if bubbles of blood seethed the water. With eyes already glazing, she looked once more at the Prince, hurled herself over the bulwarks into the sea and felt her body dissolve in foam.

The sun rose up from the waters. Its beams fell, warm and kindly upon the chill sea-foam, but Marina felt a force as cold as death itself pulling her away from the warmth and brightness of the sun into the dark depths of the sea. On the seabed, she saw dozens of beautiful beings. They were so translucent that she could almost see right through them. They were as pale as she, if not paler, they all had long hair and there was a cold look in their eyes that looked colder than the waters of the sea. They were not mermaids for they had human legs and they wore dresses of greyish-blue with hair bands of blue flowers, but one wore a crown of blue flowers and the others parted to make room for her as she approached Marina.

"Welcome dear Marina, welcome to your new life," she said and her voice sounded as though it carried very sorrowful emotion in the world.

"And who are you?" Marina asked.

"I am the Queen of the Rusalki," she answered, "and these are my Rusalki daughters. We are all just like you, Marina. We too were once happy, alive and in love, but just like you, we are the victims of rejection and heartbreak in the hands of the ones we loved and our heartbreaks ultimately led to our deaths here in the sea. But we were given a second chance; a chance to return to earth and live forever as one of the undead. We live here as undead spirits, haunting our former homes and our place of death. But to haunt our former homes is not our sole reason to rise from the waters at sunset, for every Rusalka is given the chance to seek vengeance on the one who was responsible for her death. You may take that chance, Marina; the choice is all yours, but first, come with me."

The Queen of the Rusalki took Marina by the hand and led her into the large group of the many Rusalki.

"Prepare her," ordered the Queen.

The Rusalki stripped Marina of her beautiful bridesmaid dress and dressed her in a dress identical to theirs. Indeed, she looked beautiful, as if she were a bride of the sea. Once this was done, the Queen approached her and ordered her to kneel. Marina obeyed without hesitation and on her head, the Queen placed a hair band of blue flowers, identical to the ones the others wore. Then she kissed her forehead and Marina felt a strange coldness running through her to her heart.

"Now you are one of us," the Queen declared, "welcome to your new family, our new Rusalka."

And the initiation was complete; Marina the Little Mermaid was now a Rusalka and she was now in danger of forever losing her heart. The kiss the Queen had bestowed upon her had begun the journey Marina was now destined to make that would forever turn her into a heartless spirit incapable of love. Rusalki lose their hearts forever once their revenge on those who caused their deaths is complete. The Queen and her Rusalki daughters had already lost their hearts when they took their revenge against the men who had driven them to death and the revenge of a Rusalka is most unpleasant. She would choose her victim and find ways to make him pay and suffer for the pain he inflicted upon her and once the vengeance had begun, the Queen of the Rusalki would finish it by placing a deadly, inescapable curse on her daughter's victim. She and her Rusalki were destined to forever remain on the earth knowing anger, hatred and vengeance among other emotions of coldness and resentment. Once a Rusalka loses her heart, there is no turning back.

The Rusalki embraced their new sister and Marina could only accept their welcome, for she was no longer in control of her fate. She felt sadness knowing that now, she would never gain an immortal soul, but would exist forever on earth as an undead spirit of the sea.

* * *

On board the ship, all was astir and lively again, but the Prince and his bride, who had been in search of Marina, were gazing sadly into the seething foam, as if they knew she hurled herself into the waves. While his bride was filled with sorrow at the loss of Marina, the Prince felt himself overcome with a great sadness and was unable to tear his eyes from the sea, knowing with instinct that it had taken his dear little foundling. His bride could not help, but notice the sadness in his eyes.

"She meant a great deal to you, didn't she?" she said gently.

"She was most dear to me," he said, his gaze still fixated on the sea, "I deeply cared for her; she was the dearest friend I ever had and she loved me more than anyone else did. But why would she...?"

He was unable to finish and his eyes were now wet with tears; his bride took placed one hand on his and the other on his shoulder as she attempted to comfort him.

"It doesn't make sense," he managed to say, "I told her we were never to part, that we would always be together. I don't understand any of this and I feel that losing Marina has felt such a void that can never be filled."

"Well like you said, she was your dearest friend and such a dear friend can be replaced," his bride told him, "but she is with God now and she will always be watching over us."

The Prince finally drew his gaze from the sea and looked at his bride; her attempt to comfort him was working.

"You're right, she's our guardian angel now," he said as a smile appeared on his face, but it disappeared again, "but I'll always miss her."

"I know," his bride said reassuringly; she took his face in her hands, "but she'll always be with you as long as you hold her close."

The Prince smiled with gratitude and kissed his bride. He turned to look at the sea again, before joining her in all that was happening on board. And indeed, the young Princess was right when she told her new husband that Marina would always be with him. Marina would always be with the Prince, but not in the way his bride had referred to, for the former Little Mermaid had already decided how she was going to live her new existence.


	2. Chapter 2: The Message

_Thank you to **judygumm** for your review, I'm glad you like the story so far, but there is still more to come._

_To anyone else who's read the story, I hope you all liked it too. :)_

_Well anyway, here is the next chapter, so enjoy. :)_

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Message**

The ship sailed for hours until finally, it arrived in the Prince's kingdom. A huge welcome party was prepared for the Prince's return and he joyfully introduced his bride to her new home. By the end of the day, there was joy everywhere in the palace for the Princess had already won the hearts of all those who served her and her new mother and father-in-law were overcome with love and warmth for their daughter-in-law. In their eyes, she was an angel. However, joy was quite absent from one soul in the palace. The sadness and sorrow the Prince held over the loss of Marina had still not left him and he could not help, but still grieve for her. When sunset came, he took a bouquet of hand-picked flowers to the steps where he had met Marina, where he had found her naked and alone, washed up from the sea. He sat on the stone steps and his mind drowned in thoughts and memories of his dear little foundling; how he missed her and would always miss her. He had held so many questions about her that she could never answer; who she was, where she came from and now, he had more, but those questions would never be answered either. She was gone forever and he would never know everything about her that he had wanted to know. Tears were falling from his eyes and when at last, he stood up again, he stared at the waters of the sea and threw the flowers onto its surface.

"Goodbye Marina," he said softly, "you will always be in my heart."

He stood there for a few moments and watched as the waves carried the flowers out to sea that had been made golden by the sunset. The Prince looked on at the glorious sight and believed it was a sign telling him that Marina was with God in his most high kingdom that looked down upon the world. He finally turned away and walked up the steps back into the palace. The sun soon disappeared behind the sea and darkness was now covering the land, but as soon as the sun was gone, a figure silently rose from the sea and stood on the steps of the palace. It was Marina the Rusalka. She stood on the steps, her long hair draped over her dress and her beautiful face shone in the moonlight. Marina absorbed the familiar surroundings, but she could not feel anything; no warmth, no coldness, nothing. She could no longer feel the wetness of the sea or the breeze carried in the air or the dryness of the land; it was all gone. Undead spirits cannot feel what living beings can. Looking at the palace, she knew where she wanted to go and she walked up the steps and inside the palace. In silence and unseen, Marina walked through the familiar corridors and hallways, passing many of the people she had known for a brief time, but they did not even know she was there. Walking through the palace and up the grand staircase, she finally came to the Prince's room and through the doors she walked. Just like on the previous night, he was asleep with his bride and Marina approached him. She attempted to touch him, but found that she could not, so she traced his face with her pale fingers. Then she looked at his bride and a hard feeling of resentment suddenly overcame her.

"You are an imposter," Marina said bitterly, but she could not be heard, "a fraud, a deceiver because it was I who saved his life, not you. It was me he was meant to love, not you. It was me he was meant to marry, not you. And it should be me lying here beside him, not you."

She gazed cold and hard at the Princess and then, she looked back at the Prince and her cold gaze softened to one of tenderness and sorrow.

"My dear Prince," she said softly, "if only you knew; if only you'd known when there was still time. Well now, you will know the truth; you will see the truth in your dreams and you will know that was me, Marina, who rescued you from drowning."

And at this moment, Marina would work her first bit of magic in her new existence. She placed her hand over the Prince's heart and thought of what she wished to use her magic for, hopeful and confident that it would work as she planned. Within moments, the Prince began to toss and turn in his sleep and Marina smiled because she knew it had worked. She stood there and watched as he dreamed what she wanted him to dream. In the dream Marina had bestowed upon him, the Prince saw Marina in her former life as a mermaid and he saw all those who had been part of her life in the sea - her father, her sisters and her grandmother. Then he saw all of Marina's adventures to the surface and finally, the night of the storm, where he saw himself fall into the sea and Marina swimming to his rescue, carrying him back to the surface and to the beach where he met his bride. He saw everything that had happened afterwards - Marina's despair at not seeing him again, her sisters showing her where he lived, her grandmother telling her all about humans and their immortal souls and finally, Marina's visit to the Sea Witch. He saw it all; the deal she made, the loss of her tongue and voice, the potion she took and her transformation into a human. The rest the Prince already knew and what was shown to him next were memories that were very dear to him, except for one he didn't remember. When it reached his wedding night, he saw Marina with her sisters as they appeared to her from the sea and heard every word exchanged between them. He saw the knife they gave her and heard them telling her that she had to kill him if she was to be saved and live. Then he saw Marina take the knife into his chamber, but saw she could not kill him and instead, kissed him goodbye and threw herself into the sea, where she dissolved into the foam. And it was then that the dream ended and the Prince woke up in his bed beside his bride. Marina was no longer there, for the sun was already in the sky and Rusalki must return to their waterways at sunrise. The strange dream hit the Prince hard and he sat up, running his hands over his face and through his hair as he deeply questioned everything he had just seen; what did it all mean? Did it mean anything at all? Why did he dream such a dream of his dear little foundling?


	3. Chapter 3: The Revenge Begins

_Hi everyone, I'm very sorry for the delay in updating, but I've been having a little bit of a writer's block._

_But anyway, I finally got the next chapter written and here it is, so enjoy. :)_

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Revenge Begins**

For the whole day, the Prince remained deeply disturbed by his dream of Marina; so many more questions filled his mind. Why would he dream such a dream? Why would anyone dream such a dream? His wife could not help but notice her husband's distraction from everything they did that day, but every time she asked him what was on his mind, he assured her there was nothing to worry about. She did not believe him, for she could see the lack of truth in his eyes. While the confused Prince remained haunted by his dream, in the sea, Marina could not help, but feel hopeful that her plan would work. She believed the best option was to give the Prince a chance to realise his mistake rather than instantly exacting revenge, even if it was too late for them to be together.

When the sun eventually set after what had been a long day for the Prince, he lay in his bed beside his wife unable to sleep. The moon was already shining in the sky and the stars were visible, but the Prince remained awake, drowned in his thoughts. But little did he know that there was someone else in his room; little did he know that Marina had returned to visit him again that night. He could not see her, but she could see the disturbance in his face and she knew what he was thinking of. She smiled at the thought that her plan was working, but she felt maybe he needed to see everything again. Approaching the bed and standing beside him unseen, she helped him to fall asleep and bestowed the same dream upon him. She stayed at his side all night and watched him sleep, returning to the sea at sunrise.

This became a repeated routine for Marina - she visited the Prince every night and made him dream the same dream for the next few days. The Prince found himself thrown into more and more confusion, unable to find any sort of answer anywhere. Finally, after avoiding telling anyone for several days, he finally confided in his wife about his dreams of Marina and how much they had been troubling him. One night, when he was unable to sleep yet again, his wife demanded him to explain his strange behaviour to her and when she did not believe there was nothing wrong, he realised he had no choice and told her everything.

"I don't know why I keep dreaming about her," the Prince said after explaining what happened in the dreams, "I don't know why I would dream such dreams about her, it's all very confusing."

The Princess listened attentively to her husband and felt a disturbance rattle within her; was this a warning to her that the lies she had unwittingly told were catching up to her? She had known all along that her husband was alive when she had found him on that beach and she had let him believe that she had saved his life, but it had never occurred that someone else may have saved him. She been assuming all this time that he had been washed up on the beach by the waves, but now, he was dreaming dreams telling him that he had been rescued by another and that other was his beloved little foundling. But even now, the Princess was too cowardly and even selfish to tell the Prince the truth, for even though she was almost certain that she had deceived him, she still loved him dearly and could not bear to lose him. So instead, she decided to firmly turn his heart back to her.

"Maybe this is just part of your grieving," she said, "I know how much you miss Marina, so..."

"No, no," the Prince cut her off, "I don't think it is because it all felt... so real; it felt like it all happened. In fact, it all felt more like a memory rather than a dream. I dreamt that she was a mermaid and she saved me from drowning that night, but why would I dream of her as a mermaid? I never thought of her as a mermaid and besides, mermaids aren't real; they're just stories and fables told by sailors and pirates."

He then looked at his wife and took her hand.

"And besides, we both know that it was you who saved my life," he said as he looked into her eyes, "if it hadn't been for you finding me dead on that beach and bringing me back to life, I wouldn't be here. You did for me something that no one else has ever done and I have so much to thank you for."

The Princess remained silent when she heard those words and the look on her face did not match the happy and grateful one on her husband's; he could not help but notice this.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

At first, she struggled to answer, but eventually, she found her voice.

"Oh nothing, I'm just tired," she said, hoping it would convince him, "I do not know why you have been dreaming such dreams, but Marina is gone and you know you have to let her go."

"I know," the Prince replied, "and maybe you are right; maybe the reasons for these dreams is out of my missing her. But we cannot live in the past; we have our future together and I am so happy my future is with you. I love you."

"And I you, but now, let us sleep."

The Prince smiled at his wife and kissed her tenderly before they lay down in the bed to sleep, but the Princess held that look of worry on her face and kept it hidden from her husband. She lay there awake for a while as a feeling of guilt prevented her from sleeping, while the Prince slept peacefully with his arms wrapped around her. However, they were unaware that there was a third person in the room who had heard every word of their conversation. Marina had returned to work on her magic on the Prince once again, but instead, she found herself frozen to one spot by the window as she had watched and listened to what was said between the Prince and his wife. All the hope she had felt for the Prince to realise the truth had suddenly vanished and a strong feeling of anger and hatred overcame her as she looked on at the Prince expressing his thanks to the wrong woman. It was bad enough that the Princess had deceived him, but now, she was trying to make him forget Marina and Marina could find nowhere in her heart to forgive her for everything she had done. As she stood there staring coldly at the Prince and Princess, she suddenly heard the voice of the Queen of Rusalki speaking to her.

"Do you not see, Marina?" the Queen's cold voice said, "they are the ones responsible for your death and you have every right to hate them, especially the Princess. She stole the Prince from you and now, she is turning him against you. Remember you are a Rusalka now; you have the chance to take revenge and make them suffer as you have suffered. Take your revenge, Marina; they do not deserve your forgiveness. Take it!"

"She did steal him from me and she is turning him against me," Marina said, "she will pay, she must pay!"

The words of the Queen of the Rusalki had done their part and Marina walked to the side of the bed in which the Princess lay. She was still awake, but she was unaware of Marina's presence and once Marina made her fall asleep, she stretched her hand over the Princess's face and with much hatred in her eyes, she said:

"You stole him from me; you stopped him from realising that I was the one who saved his life and now, I will have my revenge. By the powers of the sea vested in me, I, Marina the Rusalka, curse you!"

Marina inflicted her curse and once she was finished, she left. She had accepted her new life as a Rusalka and now that she had chosen to seek vengeance, her heart was further shrinking. The next morning, when the Prince and Princess awoke, the Prince was about to greet his wife with a kiss, but when he saw her, he gasped in horror and quickly recoiled from her.

"What is wrong, dear husband?" she asked, but he made no answer.

He just sat there in the bed staring at her with eyes wider than saucepans. The Princess moved her hands to push back some of her hair that had fallen in front of her eyes, but when she saw her hands, she gasped and stared. They were not her hands; they were ugly and covered in wrinkled skin. She looked up at her husband and saw that he was still staring at her in horror. She touched her face and it did not feel familiar, so she slowly climbed out of the bed, walked towards the mirror that stood nearby and looked at her reflection. A scream suddenly rang throughout the palace for when the Princess looked in the mirror, she saw that her beauty and youth were gone and looking back at her was an old, ugly crone. Her screams were heard at the bottom of the sea and Marina the Rusalka could not help, but smirk a wicked grin for this was the beginning of her revenge.


End file.
